Federal law enforcement officials confirmed Friday that they have arrested a suspect in the MSBlast worm attack that compromised hundreds of thousands of computers earlier this year. U.S. Attorney John McKay of Seattle said 18-year-old Jeffrey Lee Parson of Minneapolis was arrested and charged with one count of intentionally damaging a protected computer. Parson allegedly created MSBlast.B, a minor variation that differed from the original worm mainly in that two files had been renamed–one with Parson’s screen name, “teekid”–and a couple of profane messages aimed at Microsoft and Bill Gates had been added. The B variant achieved only modest distribution in comparison to the original worm and the recent D variant. McKay said the B variant was a significant part of the continuing spread of the so-called Blaster worm. “We believe he is a key and significant player in the Blaster worm problem and that his arrest is a significant step forward,” McKay said during a news conference. “This was a significant attack not only against Microsoft but against thousands of home computer owners and business computer owners.” Full Story